


You must be a hero, for no villain would be so kind

by Finitemultiverse



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Peter Parker has ADHD, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene, Spoilers, Trans Peter Parker, Well ok not really but none of the evidence contradicts me yet, but it will be mentioned so if you have a problem with it fuck off, but this is totally not how it's going to go in the MCU, fucking fight me, not that it's a big deal in the story, or any canon really, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2020-07-19 04:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19968004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finitemultiverse/pseuds/Finitemultiverse
Summary: In the aftermath of THAT SCENE, Peter swings up to a rooftop, where he runs into Mr. Criminal, who happens to be MJ's uncle. Also, MJ has a brother, who's going on a field trip to OsCorp soon. What are the odds?





	1. Instincts better than originally thought

**Author's Note:**

> So this is not supposed to be canon, but it's not in conflict with the canon as of yet, and does include what I believe to be a few canon theories. This is also the first fanfic I've ever written, so be nice please. Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spider-Man swears in public, and Mr. Criminal is a surprisingly deep thinker. Also, he seems to know MJ, but that can't be right, can it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had the idea of Peter running into Mr. Criminal after FFH, and it just kinda...mutated into this. I hope my poor writing doesn't ruin the plot!

“Spider-Man’s real name is-”

_ No no no no no no no no no no no no no. Oh god. Let that be the end of the video. Please please please. _

“Spider-Man’s real name is Peter Parker!”

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

That was probably the first time Spider-Man had ever sworn in public. Not that swearing was his primary concern right now. Dozens of pairs of eyes swiveled to look at him. He was unbelievably fucked. Everything was pouring in all at once. People were looking at him. MJ was looking at him. People were calling 911. Parents were dragging their children away. People were whispering. People were shouting. It was all so loud. His Peter-Tingle (God, he hated that name.) was running through his body. All of his senses were screaming at him.

“-right here! In th-”  _ Parents. _

“-se. Send som-”  _ Cops. _

“-et him!”  _ Rioters. _

“-un, Spider-Man! Run!”  _ MJ. _

_ No. Swing. _ He leaped off the light post,  _ thwipped _ out a web line, shot away. He hit the roof of a nearby bank. He landed running. He leapt off the roof to the next, ran across the city.  _ Peter Parkour _ , he’d once told Ned. It was a crazy thought, so absurd he got distracted, tripping on his next jump. He stopped to catch his breath, looking around him. 

“Peter, you appear to be having a panic attack. Would you like me to call May?”

_ May.  _ Oh, god, May. She was going to have to deal with this. People would be knocking down her front door. He needed to get her out of the city. “No. Call Happy. I need him to do something first.”

“Calling Happy.” The phone ran twice, than connected. “Peter?”

“May? I called Happy!”

“Yes, this is his phone. You’re on speaker.”

“Wait, is he still at the apartment? Are you two making out? What’s happening?”

“Focus, Peter. We saw the newscast. Happy is driving me to some place called the compound. He says you’ll know where it is, and if you activate your tracker, he’ll send a car for you.”

“Activating tracker,” Karen interrupted.

“Aw, crap,” he heard Happy say in the background. “Kid, why’d you go so far out?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re in Brooklyn! By the time I get a car to you, people will have calmed down enough to think. They’ll be on the lookout for you, and they’ll be paying special attention to any Stark vehicles. They’ve already got choppers looking for you web slinging along, so you can’t get out of the city that way. You’ll have to find a place to hide until we can build up a rescue-”

“Hey, Peter!” called a voice behind him.

“Guys I gotta go. I’ll call you back. Karen, end call.”

Peter swung around to find a tall African-American man staring at him. He looked familiar. 

“That’s your name, right? Peter Parker? The nut job in the fishbowl got that right, at least?”

“Yeah, that’s me. But I didn’t do any of that stuff he said, I didn’t attack-”

“I know, kid. I know. I didn’t doubt for a second that there’s no way you attacked a city.”

“Thanks…” Peter realized where he knew the man from. It hit him like cap’s shield to the face. “Mr. Criminal?”

It was definitely him. He’d shaved his head and gotten in much better shape, but he was unmistakably the same man Peter had left webbed to the trunk of his car a year- _ six years _ \- ago. 

“Aaron Davis, kid. If I know your name, you deserve to know mine. Now what are you doing on this roof, huh? They got copters all over the city. Come downstairs.”

“How do I know I can trust you? How do you know you can me?”

Aaron seemed to consider this for a moment. “Well, as for trusting me, I guess you’re just going to have to take a leap of faith. But hey, you saved my life. I still owe you, I think. As for trusting you, well, I ain’t a thing that could make you seem untrustworthy to me.”

“People are saying I blew up London.”

“Pfft. Nobody who needs to make their voice sound stupid like that to find a nut job in a metal bird costume could bomb a whole city. ‘Sides,” He looked back the way Peter had swung in from. “You saved me from a bullet. You yanked my nephew out of the road and gave him an autograph, before the Blip. And you’ve always been there when my niece is in danger.”

“Your niece?”

“Yeah. When her school trip got bombed in DC, you were there. When they went to Europe, you were there, in every country, saving her from those big lumpy things-”

“Elementals. Well, actually, they were a network of weaponized drones projecting extremely realistic holograms masquerading as creatures from another universe in order to trick me into giving Beck access to even more weaponized drones, but-wait. How did you know I was in Europe? I was Night Monkey over there.”

Aaron smirked “A new costume and a stupid name ain’t enough to keep someone as observant as my niece from recognizing you, kid. She told me you were there. You’ve been there every time my family’s been in danger. I don’t think I have anything to fear from you.”

“I could’ve been doing that to gain public support.”

“Most of it, yeah. You get a lot of praise for saving a class of kids, or for pulling a kid out of the road right before a truck hits him. But if you were after glory, why’d you wear a different costume in Prague? And, why did you save me? Ain’t no glory in stopping a criminal from being shot by his arms dealer when there’s no one to see you. Even if there were witnesses, a lot of people would even say it’s the wrong thing to do. But you did it anyway. So yeah, I trust you. And if you want off this roof, you gotta trust me too. Now come downstairs. There’s someone I think you’ll like to meet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're re-reading this and it doesn't look quite right, I'm revising some parts as I write the next chapter.


	2. Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter starts talking with May, Happy, and Pepper, and surprises the hell out of MJ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from hiatus! thanks to the corona virus for giving me writing time and cancelling my exams! Hope you guys enjoy.

Peter paused in the stairwell. “Can you give me a sec? I’ve got some people I need to call.”

“Sure, kid,” said Aaron.

“Karen, mute external audio.”

“Of course, Peter. Would you like to talk to Happy and May again?”

“Yes.”

“Kid, you there?” Happy’s voice was worried. 

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m off the street, don’t worry. A, uh, fan’s offered me a place to hunker down for a couple hours.”

“Are you sure you can trust them? They might be trying to turn you in.”

“Don’t worry, May. I’m sure.”

“Peter, this is Pepper.” A new voice cut across the call.

“Miss Potts?”

“Yes. I’ve been talking with Happy. We’re going to need you to lie low, at least for a couple hours. Happy and May are already out of the city. Is there anyone else you think needs to be evacuated?”

“My friends, Ned and Michelle. Happy, you know them from London.”

“Yeah, I remember. I’ll send someone to get Ned, but Michelle disappeared after you dropped her off in Times Square. I think it might be better not to attract any more attention to her for right now.”

“Michelle! I left her behind. I have to call her and-”

“You can,” says Pepper, all business. “In a minute. But with those immediate concerns addressed, we need to start thinking long term. Specifically, how we’re going to deal with this. Peter has a decision to make.”

“I do?”

“You do. We’re working on a few ideas to get you out of the city. But which one we use depends on how you want to respond to your identity being revealed. Now, obviously, we’re suing the Daily Bugle. The Sokovia accords state that superheroes such as Spider-man have to be registered, but they’re allowed to maintain a secret identity. Therefore, this counts as a breach of privacy, and a minor’s at that. But, Peter can either say he wants to deny that he’s Spider-man, or he can choose to go public and confirm that he is.”

“We can deny it?”

“Yes. I’m not going to lie and say we can make this all go away. There’s always going to be that one crazy who still thinks you’re Spider-man, and you’ll be semi-famous as ‘that guy everyone thought was Spider-man’, but we can probably convince most of the public you’re just a normal teenager.”

“What do you think I should do?”

There was a beat of silence. Then May spoke up.

“Honey, we can’t tell you what you should do. This affects you much more than any of us.”

“Can I have more time to decide?”

“A few hours, at least,” Pepper’s voice, for the first time, was uncertain. “We might need your decision to get you out of the city, though. Call Michelle, and get settled in wherever you are. Then we can try and formulate some more solid plans, hopefully with more information. And Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry we didn’t catch this before it happened. We should’ve known Beck would have a back-up plan. We certainly should have noticed the Bugle talking about Spider-Man.”

“It’s all right. I should’ve phrased my order to cancel the attack better.”

“Wait, you actually said ‘execute them all’?”

“I’ll explain later gotta go bye! Karen, hang up and call MJ.”

“Peter? What’s happening, did you get arrested?”

“MJ, it’s me, I’m hiding in the city, I didn’t get arrested. Are you OK? I didn’t mean to leave you, but everyone was yelling, and-”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I got out of there before anyone remembered you swung in with me. I’m in Brooklyn. I’ve got an uncle who lives nearby, I’m already in his apartment building.”

“OK, yeah, about that-” A door opened down the hall.

“Shhh!” Aaron pushed him back into the stairwell. “My niece is here. You might’ve saved her too, but I don’t know how she’ll react to you. She was in London. She might hold a grudge. Our family tends to do that.”

“Yeah, look, about that-”

“I’m gonna go check on her. Stay here, and don’t make a sound”

“But-” It didn’t matter. Aaron was already in the hall, walking towards MJ. Peter slid down the wall and groaned. Only he could have luck this bad. _It’s your own fault_ , a voice in his head whispered. _If you hadn’t fallen for Beck’s tricks, if you’d hadn’t given EDITH to a freakin’ super-villain you wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Or even if you’d called off the drone strike literally any other way! “Execute them all”? You couldn’t have just said “Cancel the attack”? You idiot!_

“So, not that I’m complaining, but what’s my favorite niece doing at my place? I thought your dad didn’t want you or your brother coming over anymore,” Aaron’s voice cut into Peter’s dismal thoughts. He peered around the corner to see Aaron standing in front of a door, holding MJ at arms length.

“That hasn’t stopped Miles from visiting you, and it won’t stop me either.”

“Whaaaaat? Miles doesn’t visit me! That’s crazy,” Aaron’s voice was completely unconvincing. MJ’s eyes narrowed into an expression Peter had spent decathlon learning to fear.

“He’s in your apartment right now, isn’t he?”

“No.”

One eyebrow raised.

“Yeah.”

“Thought so. How’s he feeling about the whole Spider-Man thing? How are you feeling about it? I know you’re a pretty big fan…”

“That’s...complicated.”

“You only say something’s complicated when you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then take the hint. How are you feeling about all this?”

“I don’t think he did it. I just hope Spidey’s OK. Too bad we don’t know where he is.”

“So, look, funny story”

Peter took that as his entrance cue. “Hey MJ.” There was a beat of silence. Peter rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I did try to warn you.”

“You two know each other? How?” Peter blinked. He’d never heard two people speak in sync like that, except in the movies.

“I, uh, have a bit of a relationship with...well, with both of you actually. I’ll explain it to both of you later. For now, we should get inside the apartment. Also, who’s Miles?”

“My brother.”

“Wait, what?”

“Also a long, complicated conversation that we should have inside. But, fair warning, Miles is a huge spidey fan. When he sees you, he might, uh...”

“Pass out from excitement,” Aaron took over.

“He’s not going to pass out.”

“5 bucks says you’re wrong.”

“I’m not intimidated by you, or your freakish talking money.” Apparently, that was an inside joke, because Aaron grinned and shook her hand.

“Regardless of what he does, he’s going to wanna show you his artwork. He’s drawn a lot of pictures of you. You swinging, you on webs, variants on your suit, things like that.”

MJ nodded grimly. “And as much as I love him, if you let him show you all his artwork, you’ll be looking at art until the end of time. That being said, do yourself a favor and look at some of the costumes he designed for you. They’re way better than what you’ve got now.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“All right then. Let's go in.” They stepped through the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have more chapters out reasonably soon! Comments are very welcome, even critical ones. Actually, never mind, don't criticize me. I'm working hard to get this out for you guys. I don't need the fic, I already know what happens. Take it or leave it, you selfish bastards.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so here's a re-written version of the first chapter. I'm sorry for leaving it so long, but I have exams coming up in January and can't promise regular updates. But, enjoy!


End file.
